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St. Claire Timeline
1826: Caern Rediscovered The Wendigo re-awaken an ancient tribal Caern near the Columbia river. 1847: Area "Discovered" Two prospectors, Lan Gerlord and Jebediah Regan, traveling through the area on a long-term prospecting voyage, discover a vast silver vein in the local hills. The two make a small mine and avoid any trouble with the local natives. 1849: St Claire Founded After a return to St. Louis, Regan and Gerlord come back to the area intent on getting rich. With them is a small group of workers and other prospectors, and as word begins to get out, the town of St Claire is officially founded by that small population. Though Regan and Gerlord are unaware, some supernatural attention is also paid the town after Regan's drunken tales of 'injun magics' told in a few St. Louis bars. Hilliard Name Established Among the group brought back by Gerlord and Regan was a young man, Jerrold R. Hilliard, and his young wife. Jerrold opened the first General Store in St. Claire. 1850: Cedric Arrives Having heard tales of "Injun magics" told by Zebediah Regan during his sojourn in St. Louis, Cedric, a powerful Tremere warlock, brings together a medium-sized party of retainers and treks overland to the St Claire area. Finding a bustling town with a population already nearing 1000 people, he decides to settle down for a time and investigate the magical anomaly across the river from the town. 1851: Silverwood in the Knoll Established Jerrold Hilliard expands his business and economic interests and branches out into lumber as well as funding prospecting miners, somehow managing to give himself an stranglehold on the local economy. Though he doesn't abuse this position, Jerrold uses the money from his enterprise, plus part of his wife's "inheritance" in conjunction with the loose land laws of the day to buy 100 acres of land to the northeast of St. Claire's, then current, location. He names the land, "Silverwood in the Knoll". 1854: Construction Begins on Silverwood in the Knoll Having increased his personal wealth to tremendous proportions in a fairly short amount of time, Jerrold Hilliard begins construction of "Silverwood in the Knoll", a huge monolithic structure. The construction of the house takes over ten years to complete. 1855: Cedric Leaves After a series of run-ins with the local Garou population, which ended mostly in his defeat (although his magical abilities allowed him to deal out some casualties to the other side), Cedric decides to return to St. Louis and formulate a better long-term plan for acquiring the energies of the Caern. 1857: Mount St. Helens Erupts For the last time in the nineteenth century, the volcanic Mount St. Helens erupts. Rumors abound among the Garou that the eruption signals a catastrophic change in the nature of the spirit of the mountain, but nothing is proven for certain. Completion of Silverwood in the Knoll The gothic monstrosity known as "Silverwood in the Knoll" is finally completed, after 6 years of construction. People speculate curiously as to the 'mysterious' wealth of the Hilliard Family as in the following year, many wagons arrive in St. Claire bearing expensive furnishings for the mansion. The furnishings are quite exotic and some are identifed as Egyptian in origin. 1860: Kindred Arrive During Cedric's sojourn in St. Louis he reencounters two acquaintances, the Toreador Helen MacDougal and the Brujah Angus Craven. He directs them both to the growing town of St. Claire without informing the other that he has done so, in the hopes of eliminating one or both of them, and the chance that they might be able to eliminate the Garou problem near St. Claire, after which he can do away with the remaining Kindred at his leisure. The two arrive in 1860 within a few months of each other and remain unaware of each others' existence for over a year. 1861: Civil War Begins The United States Civil War, known to some as the War Between the States and to the Garou as the Blood War, begins. This wildly partisan conflict draws many warlike Garou from all over the continent. 1862: Craven and MacDougal A run-in between the two Kindred of St. Claire finally occurs, but to their surprise they get along. They agree that MacDougal, the Toreador, will be Prince of the city, and in return Craven will be more-or-less free to come and go as he pleases. 1905: Raleigh Becomes Prince After the death of the previous Toreador Prince of St Claire in a mysterious fire, the Ventrue Raleigh assumes the mantle unchallenged. 1908: National Park Opens A grant from the United States Federal Government makes possible the opening of Wolf Woods National Park east of St. Claire. Originally small, later grants allow for the purchase of a great deal of local land. 1925: Mysterious Reports There are several reports of a wild, hairy, human-shaped creature living in the woods west of town, made by reputable citizens. Nothing ever comes of this, though among the local Garou it's obvious that these reports are not referring to them. 1932: Construction of Hilliard Memorial Hospital During the Great Depression, the Hilliard Family creates many jobs by constructing the Jerrold Hilliard Memorial Hospital. Completion of the structure does not occur for five years, but the patient ward and the emergency rooms are put into almost immediate use. 1933: Alphabet Soup Terrorism As part of a federal work program, massive logging efforts are organized in the area during President Roosevelt's first term in office. The Wendigo of the Sept of the Wheel respond appropriately, and through the age-old tactic of terrifying the workers (with little violence) bring an end to the federal government's local economic recovery program. 1939: Germany Invades Czechoslovakia Nazi Germany invades Czechoslovakia, pulling the other nations of the world into the Second World War. 1940: Northern Caerns Destroyed Fragmented reports of a Caern to the north being destroyed under odd circumstances are told by second-hand witnesses. Two more in that area are destroyed in the next two years, all with no known survivors. 1943: Wild Animal Attack A Kent Crossing girl, Vera Oppenheimer, reports being attacked by huge wolves, and being saved by a group of enormous, gentle timber wolves. Her parents' bodies are found a few days later, apparently ravaged by wild animals. 1944: Wendigo Leave The Wendigo running the Caern vanish, leaving Saint Claire's Glass Walkers and Bone Gnawers the only Garou in the immediate area. There are no clues to where the Wendigo went, and the Caern falls into dormancy. Anarch Revolution After servants of the Prince of Los Angeles severely beat a Brujah Anarch, cities all over the West Coast have their Vampire Princes killed or replaced by groups of younger Anarchs. The Brujah Anarch in question, Jeremy MacNeil, is declared the leader of the Anarchs of the Anarch Free States. Locally, Raleigh responds ruthlessly, calling an unlimited Blood Hunt against Clan Brujah. Six Brujah vampires are killed, along with two Ventrue of Raleigh's Get who participated in the Hunt. By the end of the year there are no surviving members of Clan Brujah in St. Claire. The Real Story The Wheel is threatened by a supernatural menace (known in later years as the Ice King) that has destroyed several other Wendigo Caerns. The Shaman of the Wheel divine it is the Wendigo of the Sept, and not the Caern itself, that is the prey. Hoping to save the Caern, most of the Wendigo leave, accompanied by Magpie and Buffalo. Nine warriors remain behind with Cougar. The monster attacks the Wheel, despite the fact that most of the Garou have fled, and slays Cougar's Nine. It is prevented from destroying the Caern only by the sacrifice of Cougar himself. The courageous spirit tears through reality, pulling himself and the enemy into a flux realm. The Wendigo return, but can only discern that both Cougar and the enemy are lost. They declare the place cursed, bury their dead, and close the Caern. 1945: Hiroshima and Nagasaki The Second World War is ended in mid-August after the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Among the Stargazers and Glass Walkers of the Garou, tales are told of the number of rapacious Wyrm spirits freed that day by the use of nuclear fission for mass killing. 1953: Magi Arrive In 1953, the young and eccentric heir to the Llywelyn publishing estate, Aidan Llywelyn, has the family manor moved into the city and reconstructed at great personal expense. Coincidentally, this year marks the first organized Traditions presence in St. Claire, and the keep Llywelyn owns is soon transformed into the Chantry now known as Nightfall. 1954: Shelters Constructed As part of an abortive Civil Defense program, approximately two dozen underground shelters are built throughout St. Claire. Most of these have direct links to the city's water, sewage and electrical systems, and are capable of keeping between 10 (the smallest shelters) and 60 (the largest) people alive for six months, with rations of canned food and the like. 1969: Moon Landing Neil Armstrong, Mission Leader of Apollo 11, becomes the first human to walk on the surface of the moon. No Lunes are found. 1971: Rezoning Proposal Fails Despite heavy campaigning, a proposal to rezone the east bank of the Columbia River between the Municipal Bridge and I-90 to allow industrial use fails. The corporation itching to get onto the land, Hernandez Industrial Steel, blitzed the local media with pro-rezoning commercials and the like, but a coalition of local businesses and environmental groups (backed, independently, by Raleigh and the local Glass Walkers, who would have been amazed to know they were allied) got the measure voted down. 1973: School Fire A few weeks before the opening of the '73-'74 school year, Regan Bridge High School burns completely to the ground. Although no one is killed, one of the janitors and two teachers are injured in the blaze. A few weeks later, a student known for drug use is arrested for arson and sent to rehab. Rather than move from RBHS's site, the school board decides to rename the school Martin Luther King Jr. High School and build upon the site of the old building. 1974: Riverside Murders In the springtime, three seemingly-unconnected residents of St. Claire disappear. Evidence appears connecting a drifter, Michael Fielder, to the murders of all three, but he is killed in a confrontation with police before he can be interrogated. The bodies are never found. 1978: GENOM Destroys Caern A small Caern in southern California is destroyed by developers. The Caern, weakened due to a small local Garou population, was razed by the GENOM corporation for one of its low-income housing projects. The local Garou attempted to stop the destruction but GENOM fought back effectively once it understood what it was up against. The whole series of events was written up in the Weekly World News as 'Bigfoots Attack Construction Site'. The local Garou were nearly exterminated in these attacks. 1980: Mount St. Helens Erupts In early May, an explosion rips the top from Mount St. Helens, shooting a plume of smoke, ash and dust 1000 feet into the sky. 57 people are killed and hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage are done. The mountain continues to erupt sporadically for at least the next decade or so. 1981: Foster Elected Sara Foster, an Independent candidate for the office of mayor, becomes the first woman elected to the post in St. Claire's history. 1987: Silent Strider Grand Moot The Silent Strider Tribe holds its Grand Moot, the largest in three decades, in northern Ethiopia. Details of the proceedings are never widely discussed outside the tribe, but rumors abound of the Striders having contacted the Wyrm in one of its primal essences and received an answer to some complex challenge or ultimatum issued years before. The Tribe disperses again as normal. 1989: Wolf Repopulation Project Wolf Woods National Park begins its wolf pack repopulation project within the park. 1990: Regan Projects Fire In February, an explosion in a near-condemned building causes a fire which spreads over two city blocks' worth of the poorer areas in the south of town. Arson is suspected, but nothing's ever proven. Seven people die, dozens are injured, hundreds are left homeless, and much of the area is simply left to disintegrate by uninterested city planners. 1991: Caern Rediscovered The Garou discover a powerful but apparently abandoned Caern near the city of Saint Claire, and quickly move in and claim the land. 1993: Foster Re-Elected Despite heavy opposition, most notably from Councilperson Gloria Vaughn, Sara Foster is elected to her fourth term as Mayor. Under A Blood Red Moon (spoiler warning for the White Wolf adventure by the same name) September: Following a declaration of war on the Garou by Lodin, Prince of Chicago, the Garou strike back, killing dozens of Chicago's vampires, including most notably Prince Lodin himself. Caern Gathering/Attack October: Garou begin to gather en masse in preparation for the opening of a great Caern near St. Claire. At the great Moot intended to open the Caern, a United States Army helicopter armed with silver weaponry attacks, injuring many of the Elders of the Sept-to-be. Fingers are pointed at the Vampires of St. Claire for the responsibility for the attack, but, given the Vampires' Masquerade, the attack is largely covered up from the local media and police. Caern Opening November: The Caern outside of St. Claire is finally opened in a long Moot which requires sacrifice from nearly every participant. A powerful Wyrm spirit of some kind attempts to disrupt the moot, but is driven off. Violence And Organization December: At the beginning of the month there are several violent attacks in the city involving the Garou, and the Veil is pushed dangerously near the breaking point. Partially as a result of this, the Elders of the Caern lay down strict guidelines regarding activities within the City, and strict punishments -- including the Rite of the Silver Forge -- are claimed on the transgressors. Additionally, the holders of various Sept positions are named by the Elders Council, and a certain degree of stability and peace comes over the Caern. 1994: Blue Sky Forestry January: The local Garou wage a guerilla war against Blue Sky Forestry culminating in a possible breach of the Veil near the end of the month in a large-scale attack after a Moot. In St. Claire, three grisly murders occur, two of which are done with great holes bored through the victims, earning them the moniker of 'The Cookie Cutter Murders'. DNA February: Repeated Garou activity indicates to employees of Developmental Neogenetics, Amalgamated, that the St. Claire area harbors Garou. Despite attempts to ward them away, a small team of DNA Agents enters the city. Their presence nearly paralyzes the local Garou populace, but, thanks to some Glass Walker work, they are diverted away. Unfortunately, the diversion leads them to the Sept of Two Lakes in Minnesota. That Caern is subsequently destroyed at the hands of a number of corporations, DNA among them. At the end of the month, Aspen Demilune disappears, apparently into Malfeas, and Horus goes after her. Neither have returned by month's end. A pack of Black Furies arrives in an attempt to minimize the "chaos" in the Sept. Adrian is named Warder and Arjun Fletcher Sept Alpha. Raleigh's Death March: Johnathan Winston Raleigh is killed in his haven at the hands of Arjun Fletcher and the Rush Hour pack. Their informant escapes the city with his life. The other Kindred of the city do not name a new Prince immediately. St. Claire Changes April: Upon Carson Braun's death, nothing remains to keep Adele Sandrego from assuming the mantle of Prince of St. Claire. The "Cookie-Cutter" murders continue, but the overall violence within the city decreases, credited by various sources to an increase in police protection, a lack of a paranoid guiding hand among the Kindred, and the changes in Garou leadership. Garou Justice May: The Garou take to the streets hunting the 'Cookie-Cutter Murderer', who they have discovered to be a Black Spiral Dancer; he is destroyed and his Bane ally banished in a large downtown battle that claims the life of Storm. Cornelius Snowdon, a twisted Mage, is also killed by the Garou of the Sept, but not before he can corrupt and destroy Wilhelm and Sharon. Horus returns from Malfeas with a dark story of Aspen Demilune's corruption there, and his destruction of her, while the Shadow Lord Distant Thunder is killed by another shadowy entity on the streets of St. Claire. The Motion of a Butterfly's Wing May: Su and Judith journey to Boston for Su's Challenge. A few weeks later, Judith returns alone. Soon after this, she dies (qv Great Hunt Fails). It is midsummer before anyone notices that Su has not returned; indeed, no one has heard from the Strider at all. Great Hunt Fails June: On the night where the earth pauses in equilibrium, a band of Garou set forth to hunt down a poacher of wolves as part a Great Hunt. But, the quarry is found, already slain by a Black Spiral Dancer known by many as 'Granny' and by others as Babushka. She is trailed to the abandoned railroad station at the southern end of St. Claire where another Dancer abides, an Ian Dougherty. In a great battle, Babushka is killed, but Ian slips into the Umbra before detonating the station which results in the death of four Garou: Judith, Broken Claw, Fisher-King, and Oaken. The Hunt is declared a failure and the theurges portend doom, darkness and destruction to befall upon the Sept of the Wheel Renewed. The Attack of the Girder Man July: The Sneetches are shocked to learn from their totem that Oaken may have survived the Great Hunt. Enlisting the help of a Mage (Feinan), they visit the bombed out train station to investigate. They are assaulted by a swarm of animated animal corpses, and a hulking monstrosity composed of girders with Judith's shattered Klaive at its heart. They defeat their foes, but abandon the search to a later date. The Fianna Elder Echen, investigating odd reports from his Homeland, discovers Oaken's spirit, and has it bound within an earring. The Sneetches eventually learn that Oaken did not truly die, but rather had his body and spirit separated. They also learn that his body may have fallen into the hands of a Leech, and begin to search for both body and vampire. The Dark Morn of the Storm July & August: After the disaster of the Great Hunt, the evil machinations of the Wyrm grow even greater. Word trickles into the Sept that Great Hunts across the nation have failed. Women are attacked and multilated, many of whom are Black Fury and Children of Gaia Kinfolk. Zombies attack Garou in the streets of St. Claire. The power of the Wyrm grows and the life of another young Garou, Annie Ceyla, is taken by a knife in the heart. The Battle of Boston August: The members of packs Seneca Falls, Sneetches, and Unbidden, realizing their separate hunts may have a common quarry, form an uneasy alliance. This small army of Garou head to Boston to track down the missing body of Oaken, the source of the Fury and Child of Gaia Kinfolk deaths, and the power behind the reanimated corpses terrorizing St. Claire. In a ferocious battle at the Vand Dorn Institute, they rescue the missing Strider, Su, and the possessed body of Oaken. Oaken's body and soul are reunited, and the packs return to Washington. Their experiences lead them to believe that what they thought may have been one enemy is actually two: a creature they dub the Puppet Master, and a Nephandi named Amanda. The Fall of the Puppet Master September: Sorely wounded from the Battle of Boston (q.v.), the Puppet Master makes a bid for power, hoping to possess the bodies in the St. Uriel's graveyard. The Fianna Theurge Kevin Callahan, and the Malkavian Esteban both receive presentiments of this disaster, and each in his own way warn the Garou. While some Garou fight animated statuary and vegetation in the graveyard, others journey to the Umbra over St. Uriels's Church, where they do battle with an enormous Bane that is the physical host of the Puppet Master. The Shadow Lord Brutus finds a way into the heart of the creature, and locates the core where the Master lairs, and dispatches it. Miraculously, no Garou are lost in this battle. Caern Wards Left in Tatters September: Dark visions and darker stirrings trouble the sleep of more than one young Garou in St. Claire. The Sept missed its August moot and the avatar of a dreaming elder bane chose the night before the next moot, when the Caern and its wards were weakest, to assault the Caern. The wards were torn to shreds and the Garou rallied to fight off the invader. Toxic, a Glass Walker Galliard, dealt the death blow but did not survive the backlash of the assault. A pack of Dancers descended on the city with a vengeance and a visiting Uktena brought a request to her tribe at the Caern for help that was echoed by their totem. Tempers flared between the Uktena and Glass Walker tribes over a secret the Uktena steadfastly refused to share while the Walkers bore the brunt of the Dancer's scrutiny. Return of the Wendigo December: A pack of Wendigo comes to the Caern of the Wheel. They are hostile in many ways to many of the Sept's current members; this animosity is generally returned in kind. Prophecies and spiritual events abound. The third Totem of the Caern, discovered to be Cougar, appears to die in a spiritual battle of some kind not long after the Wendigo arrive. 1995: The Cleansing of the Blight January: Realizing that the site of the failed Great Hunt of 1994 had become a Blight, a force of Garou held a great Rite of Cleansing. Banestriker, the Claw, led the force defending the Theurges who performed the Cleansing (Nike, Kevin Callahan and the ritemaster Render-of-Blights). A number of Banes tried to stop the Rite, and confused Weaver spirits fought both sides in an attempt to control the situation. The newly-arrived Get Harald almost perished while attempting to shield the Seers from Balefire, and no one escaped the battle unscathed. Fortunately, the Cleansing was successful, with no loss of Garou lives. The Plastic Works February: Pack Gauntlet, fulfilling a promise to a lightning spirit, attack smog banes in the Umbra around St. Claire Plastic Works. They discover greater corruption than they had expected, and alert the Claw, who leads the Garou in Revel against the factory at the next Moot. Many packs distinguish themselves, including Rush Hour, Renaissance, Clarity, and Gauntlet. Many Fomori and Banes are destroyed, but the final bane, a huge, insectoid creature that blazed with incredible heat, seemed unstoppable. With the Gifts granted them by Gaia, a handful of Get were able to stand against the creature and slay it. Banestriker then collapsed the Umbral structure itself. In the following weeks, constant, inexplicable equipment failures and structural faults forced the closing of the factory in the Realm. The Return of the Ice King March: A Horror long anticipated came to the Caern, as the Ice King, forwarned by the return of the Wendigo, struck in ice and freezing cold. The whole Sept mobilized to protect the Caern. Mouse counted coup on the creature, and many others fell in the battle against it, and its army of banes: Flying Bear, Jeremy, Walker, Wind, Shana, and Velasquez. The Ice King escaped, fleeing with Maury as hostage, to the gates of Malfeas. A second force caught and killed it, though that cost the life of the leader of the Wendigo, Red Sky. The night of the first attack, Horus, the Warder of the Caern, disappeared mysteriously. The Cry of the Wyrm March: While painful visions began to stir the dreams of some of the Sept members, and nightmares haunted the children of St. Uriels, the struggle against the Wyrm continued. Quiet led riters to cleanse a powerful knife fetish retrieved from the body of the Nephandi Amanda. However, as anticipated, the knife held a powerful call to the Wyrm, and the gathering was attacked by 16 banes. Joan, elder of the Black Furies, and James, new-rited Cliath of the Children, fell in the ensuing battle. The fetish was cleaned, and placed so it might bring healing to the women of St. Claire. But the cost was great. The Great Hunt June: In a time dark with dreams and a mysterious force that has snatched many strong Garou like Render-of-Blights and Chris McDowell, and the life of Lauren, Child of Gaia, the Great Hunt of the Solstice is called. The spirits point to one believed to be Nephandi, who surrounds himself with powerful allies of the Wyrm. The struggle is grusome and fierce, and the two Get Kay and Ned Briggs die in the battle. Many others are drawn to the point of death. Despite the struggle, the object of the hunt manages to make his escape. The uncertain victory gives to the Theurges of the Sept portents of struggle and difficulty and loss in the year ahead. The Claw Falls June: The Sept Alpha, driven to avenge the death of his packmate, Nosewhistler, summons a storm of spirits to bring the perpetrator of the deed to him. Unfortunately, this villain is none other than Logan Kramer, priest at St. Uriel's, and in secret an Elder Theurge of the Black Spiral Dancers. Kramer is assaulted in his lair by the hordes of spirits, and barely overcomes them. He then summons his own army of banes to do battle, and the Umbra of St. Claire becomes a maelstrom. Arjun is assaulted at Alchem by part of the Dancer's army, and various Garou are drawn into battle, either at the prompting of allied spirits, or because of an accident of proximity. In the end, the Claw, Kurt Banestriker, sacrifices himself to kill Kramer. The Child of Gaia, Adam, and the Shadow Lord cub Jake are slain in the battle, and others are severely wounded. However Alchem (and Arjun) survive. Stories Ending August: Two hazards that have threatened the Sept come to an end when the newly formed packs of Prophecy and Visions end the threat of a soul-stealing weaver-trap, and Prophecy and Unity unite to slay a Queen of Nightmares who has been haunting the children of St. Claire. Horus's death during the battle with the Ice King is confirmed, and Arjun Fletcher stands down as Alpha. The Warder, Justice, claims the position, and Stormcrow becomes the Warder of the Caern. Owl returns to the Caern, causing problems between the Spirits of the Sept and Rat. A Wyrm taint sickens and kills some of the Wolf kinfolk of the Garou. There is a hush upon the Sept as all wait to see in what direction the new Leadership shall go. Stories Beginning A short period of peace settles on the Sept for a time, but the illusion is quickly shattered as one of the Fianna is lured onto the Black Spiral, and horribly claims the lives of the cliaths Maury and Noor before they manage to fell him. The Wyrm taint is sourced in a bane that looms on the edge of the woods, sickening the Shadow Lords and felling one of them. An ominous enemy with mage-like powers, whom some call the Firebringer, is placing strange demands on certain Garou. However, the new leadership is, as of yet, unchallenged, though new threats begin to loom on the horizon.